


Observer Effect

by MyMisguidedFairytale



Category: Hunter X Hunter
Genre: Awkward Meetings, Canon Compliant, Chairman Election Arc (Hunter X Hunter), Heartbeats, Honesty, Loss of Control, M/M, One Shot, Surprises
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-15
Updated: 2019-05-15
Packaged: 2020-03-05 16:39:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,334
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18832531
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MyMisguidedFairytale/pseuds/MyMisguidedFairytale
Summary: After having his personality divined through his heartbeat, Ging Freecs only has one question. “Could you do that for someone else?”





	Observer Effect

**Author's Note:**

> _Observer Effect_ was originally written and published on October 07, 2014 on [tumblr](https://cheadle-yorkshire.tumblr.com/post/99426379717/fanfiction-hunter-x-hunter-observer-effect).
> 
> Everything below is preserved as it was originally posted:
> 
> **Title** : Observer Effect  
>  **Pairing** : Pariston x Ging if you squint  
>  **Word Count** : 1327 words  
>  **Summary** : After having his personality divined through his heartbeat, Ging Freecs only has one question. “Could you do that for someone else?”  
>  **A/N** : Takes place after one of the first rounds of voting in the Chairman Election Arc.

**__** __

_**Observer Effect** _

The food vendors had set up shop immediately after the crowds had begun to arrive to the Hunter Association headquarters for the first round of election voting. The voting was a tedious process, and more than a little boring for the majority of the Hunters assembled there, and if there was one thing that tedium and boredom always led to, it was hunger.

No one had seemed to care that a half-dozen carts and food trucks had taken up much of the sidewalk space around the front entrance–with the notable exception of the Gourmet Hunter Menchi, whose disapproval had nothing to do with the lack of permits or overpriced nature of the offerings, but rather the lackluster quality of the food–and during one of the breaks in the voting Ging Freecs had wandered out and joined one of the lines. He wasn’t sure exactly what the truck in front of him was selling–a few people were walking by him carrying wax paper-wrapped tacos, and that was a pretty good sign–but he was hungry, and he didn’t really care what he ate as long as it was food and it was cheap.

The woman in front of him was taking her time chatting to the vendor, but the more he listened to her words, the more intrigued he became.

“…And you should get that looked at by your doctor. That kind of irregularity, if unchecked, can lead to a serious heart condition.” She waved one hand in the air in the shape of a sideways figure-eight, punctuating the movement with her fingers. “Still, your heartbeat sounds lovely. You must have a very full life.”

Her voice was soft and mellifluous, and she made sure to thank the vendor when he handed over her food. Stepping out of line, Ging made to follow her.

“Uh, hey, I couldn’t help but overhear…”

He rubbed at the back of his head, and the woman seemed to laugh softly to herself, as if privately amused. “You were wondering how I knew about his heart condition? My hearing is very advanced.”

“You can hear a person’s heartbeat?”

“I can learn much about the true character of a person from it. Would you like to know about yours?”

“Sure,” he said, settling his hands loosely in his pockets. “Why not?”

She paused, shutting her eyes for a moment, and the hand not holding the bag of food began to move again, in time with a rhythm he could not hear. When she opened her eyes, she was smiling at him.

“Yours is very steady, if a little on the softer side. It’s been guarded ever since you heard what I can do.” She paused to chew on her food, that secretive smile never leaving her face. “You don’t like it. That someone else can know you without your permission.”

He looked a little sullen, before his eyes widened and he turned towards her. His heartbeat had picked up markedly, she noticed.

“Could you do that for someone else?” he asked. There was no hesitation whatsoever in his voice; not in the fact that he was asking for her help, or in the discomfiture of the request. It was a deeply personal thing, to be able to pick up on the tiniest nuances of a person’s character through their best efforts to conceal them. “There’s someone I can’t quite pin down. You might be able to help.”

She was intrigued, and it was that curiosity combined with the new vigor of his heartbeat that made her agree. “If it won’t take long.”

He nodded in the direction of the Hunter Association building. “It won’t. I’m Ging, by the way.”

“Senritsu.”

He did not ask about her face or her body. Their strangeness didn’t even seem to register with him, from the easy way he fell into step beside her and the consistent upbeat rhythm to his heart. Several of the other Hunters lingering around the plaza shot him dirty looks or whispered to one another—she could hear their conversations easily—and it didn’t seem to bother him either. All of his attention was either focused on her, or whatever lay behind those double doors at the end of their journey.

She finished her food by the time they reached the doors, and disposed of the wrappers in a trash can in the lobby. Ging seemed to know exactly where to go, and as he headed off towards a side corridor, his motions and pace almost automatic, Senritsu followed a half-step behind.

His back straightened as they paused in front of an unmarked door.

“The candidates have a green room of sorts here,” Ging said. He lowered his voice. “I saw the others either in the lobby or outside, so if there’s anyone in this room, it would be him. Could you tell me about the heartbeat of the person in this room?”

“Certainly.” And Senritsu raised her hands to her ears, cupping them and turning her body slightly to pick up on any sounds, no matter how small. “You are correct. I can hear one heartbeat on the far side of this room.”

She looked up sharply, her eyes focused on the door, the two walls of the hallway suddenly seeming so much closer and constricting than they’d been before. “This is…quite a frightening sound. It is so steady and deep, like the bloom of a gong, but it is not a pleasant heartbeat. Not at all.” Her arms began to tremble.

“This is a completely unshakable heartbeat. I am not sure if there is anything that could move this person. I have…rarely heard anything like it.” Beside her, Ging remained still.

“But they are not happy,” she added, frowning, and chanced a look at Ging. His own heartbeat seemed like a distant memory compared to the harshness of this new one. “Most of this you knew. But not that.”

After a moment, Ging answered. “It is good to have it confirmed.”

Suddenly, Senritsu’s hands shifted, and she snapped her eyes back up to the door. “He’s moving,” she said. “He’s walking over here!”

Ging’s change in posture mirrored her own surprise, and as she monitored the actions of the person in the other room her confusion was not abated. “He’s just standing there, on the other side. He’s touching the door. He knows we’re here.”

“Of course.” And Ging turned on his heel and walked down the hallway, back towards the lobby. “Our auras were unmasked. He would have known there was someone there.”

Senritsu had not been expecting that—either the state of the heartbeat before her or Ging’s reaction to her assertions. Still, she followed him, keeping up with his increased pace. He wore his irritation plainly, but it was even more obvious in his heartbeat.

“Will you be catching the rest of the debates? Should be quite a circus,” Ging said, finally, as they approached the end of the hallway.

“Oh, I can’t,” Senritsu said. “I have to get back to the hospital.”

“The…hospital…” He stared at her, and for a moment his heartbeat stopped. Then, his expression shifted, fully realizing her meaning as he seemed to withdraw within himself, trying to stifle the change in his heartbeat to the best of his ability and failing utterly at it.

“I see.”

That same amused smile returned to her face, and Senritsu passed by him without looking back. He couldn’t even hear her footsteps; he couldn’t hear much of anything, for how loudly her words were reverberating in his memory.

The next round of voting was not scheduled to start for almost another hour, but still, Ging settled down into his seat in the front row, dropping his chin to his chest and doing his best to tune out the noise around him. He really didn’t want to see Pariston’s face when he walked on-stage.

So Ging Freecs fell asleep with the sound of his heartbeat in his ears.

**Author's Note:**

> 1\. The [Observer Effect](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Observer_effect_\(physics\)) states, basically, that the act of observing something will change the thing being observed. Ex: checking the pressure in a tire or detecting an electron. Or Senritsu reading people’s heartbeats ;)


End file.
